There's no need to be afraid, I'll be there when you hesitate
by BregoAction
Summary: Will and Halt are back from Skandia. Will struggles with his past, Halt wants to help him. Cute little One-Shot, extremely OOC. No pairing. Father and son like.


**There's no need to be afraid, I'll be here when you hesitate**

It's been one month since Halt and Will arrived at their small rangercabin, back from their trip to Skandia. the first week has been quite strange for the apprentice, Will had missed his home and now he was back, back from being away a whole year.

As much as he wanted, he could not forget the awful time he had spend in Skandia, and on the journey to Skandia. Nightmares haunted him in his sleep, and he has had several flashbacks while training. Halt was very worried, that, and the guilt that painfully burned inside him. He could've saved him, but he hadn't. He could have spared him so much misery, but he had failed. And that's the worst thing a father could do to his son.

It was one of those days that Will would hide his feelings, saying he was fine, that he had slept great with a nice dream. But Halt saw though that mask, he knew Will was far from being fine. He wanted Will to talk about his feelings. Problem was though, that Will didn't want to talk about him or his feelings at all. He was ashamed, ashamed of being a failure, someone who had ended up as a slave when his mentor wasn't there for a moment. He should have taken care of himself, but he failed miserably. Today, Halt pressured the boy to talk, instead of letting him go.

_Will's point of view_

As I let go of the arrow, and in an instant I knew it wouldn't hit the goal. I sighed, annoyed by myself. Today was definitely not one of my best. My hands were shaking, I couldn't breathe properly and my concentration was long gone. I grabbed my throwing knife and threw it to a tree. It was, to my great happiness, a good throw and with a loud "thunk", the knife cut itself deep into the tree. Immediately I saw black spots, I recognized it as a flashback and sat down quickly. It was like a theatre in my head, I re-lived the whole scene. The scene where I threw my knife in the little wooden barrel, next to Erak and his enemy. Many people laughed, the enemy was angry at everyone and Erak laughed while walking up to me. Next thing was him hitting me unconscious.

I gasped and opened my eyes, looking straight into the dark, mysterious but very wise eyes of Halt. With a somewhat worried voice he asked, "are you allright Will?" I nodded and wanted to stand up, but Halt grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back. Confused, I looked into his eyes. "What's wrong Halt?" I asked him, but I knew what was wrong. He was going to say that I couldn't be his apprentice anymore. I couldn't even shoot an arrow straight to its goal. I held back tears as I waited for Halt to speak. "Will, we need to talk." There it was. The sad look in his eyes, he knew he would say it now. "I have been thinking about this for a while, while watching you training, and I made a decision. You can't go on like this Will, your past is killing you from the inside." Will inhaled, he wished Halt would just go on and say it already, it wouldn't make it easier, but it _would_ make it faster. "I decided that you should talk about your memories, your flashbacks, your nightmares and your feelings. And I understand if you don't want to talk about it with me, but at least try it with Horace. Or Alyss. Or even Lady Pauline, you know they'd always help you." Halt looked, and I have to admit I was shocked, insecure. The Halt, the amazing Ranger of Araluen, the legend, was insecure.

Well, this was definitely not what I expected.

_Halt's point of view_

Will looked at me shocked. I smiled shyly, "now, who's it going to be? Better hurry up. You need help Will." Wills eyes turned sad, "oh Halt, I really want to talk with you, you're like… like my father. The father I never had. I just…" he exhaled, "I don't think I can talk about it, actually. It is so painful, I don't want to relive it. It hurts me, and it haunts me. I wish I could talk to you, I really do, I just can't do it. I'm weak, I can't help it, I-I", Will started to tear up. I laid my hand on his shoulder, as calmly gesture. "You're everything but weak Will. You're one of the bravest people I've ever met, and you're still so young… You know, I feel this horrible guilt for leaving you on that ship the whole time. Gilan does too. Alyss missed you like crazy, Pauline told me she hadn't worked properly for a whole year. She had nightmares, and was worried sick. I was too. Horace was too. Even Crowley felt bad, and he doesn't even know you as well as we do. You're not alone Will, there are so much people that love you. You have family Will, we may have not the same blood in our veins but we do care. Without you, this whole castle would be just a bunch of knights and boring, rich people. But you bring the color in our lives. And I know I'm Halt, the grim Ranger that never smiles, but Will, you make me happy. You are my son. And I wouldn't live without you anymore, that day I took you with me as baby, we shared a bond. And that bond can never be broken again. Never."

Honestly, I surprised myself with this speech for my apprentice, I never showed emotions, sometimes when I was with Pauline, but other than that, no, never. I vaguely noticed the tears streaming down my face. I didn't wipe them off, I wasn't ashamed. Not this time.

Will stared at me. "Halt…" I shook my head, and enveloped him in a hug. It was a short, but warm embrace. "I-I will tell you my story." He said.

We looked each other in the eyes and my apprentice started to tell his story.

**THE END.**

_Hi, thank you for reading this one-shot. I really hope you enjoyed it, forgive me my bad _

_English, I do my best. I know this story is gigantically OOC, but when I started typing I couldn't stop it, haha. (: I have another Ranger Apprentice story (my first fanfic, its horribly bad, but I'd be happy if you read it though.) and a Vampire Academy story. Bye! Xoxo Kirsten._


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